OBIT: John RICE, Jr., 1880, formerly of Blair County, PA

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AN ALTOONA MAN MURDERED.
John Rice, Formerly a Baker in this City, Killed by a Tramp.

  A young man, a former resident of this city, named John Rice, Jr., 
and a brother of Tom Rice, the hatter, was found dead in the river at 
Elkhart, Indiana, about three weeks since.  His friends have every 
reason to believe that he was murdered by a tramp - shot in the mouth 
and struck by some blunt instrument back of the ear, the marks of both 
of which injuries were plainly visible.  The body was so much 
disfigured and decomposed that it was almost immediately buried.  The 
Elkhart (Ind.) Democrat, gives the following particulars of the affair.
  On Wednesday afternoon the body of a man was discovered in the river 
by some boys who were playing on the shooting ground, north of the 
Pigeon street bridge.  The marshal took charge of the body and had it 
conveyed to Mr. Waley's undertaking rooms, on Pigeon street.  The 
Coroner arrived at 8:30 o'clock, when the body was examined with the 
following result: Name, John Rice; occupation, baker; age, 27 years; 
height, 5 feet 5 inches; dark hair, dark mustache and goatee, upper 
teeth all out, tongue bitten off, left eye bruised, four cuts on the 
forehead, one each side of the body near the loins, two marks or 
bruises, discolored, on the head back of the right ear a small gash.  
He was dressed in dark clothes, fine boots, etc.  The pockets were 
searched and the sum of twenty cents in money, a pocket comb and a 
satchel key was all that could be found.
  Porter Turner was then sworn and testified as follows: Live in 
Elkhart city; saw the body in the St. Joe river about 4:30 o'clock 
Tuesday afternoon; it was lodged in some driftwood lying partly on its 
side with one hand out of the water; am not positive of ever seeing him 
before; some small boys called my attention to it first; have not heard 
any suspicions regarding his death; a tramp was close to the body; he 
was mending his coat; he moved off towards town; am positive he was a 
tramp.
  The verdict rendered by Coroner Dodge was that John Rice came to his 
death through causes unknown.  In referring to the subject editorially, 
the same paper says: By carefully reading the limited amount of 
testimony produced at the inquest over the body of John Rice, found in 
the St. Joe River, north of the Pigeon street bridge, on Tuesday of 
this week, is demonstrated the necessity of a thorough medical 
examination by competent physicians, and also a jury composed of men 
capable of weighing testimony and rendering a verdict according to 
facts produced.  There are some who claim that he was shot through the 
mouth and the ball lodged in the brain; others claim to have been in 
his company up to Monday evening, and did not notice anything unusual 
in his appearance.  These men were not produced at the inquest.  It 
cannot be given as a positive fact that he was shot or that he was not, 
for there was no examination made to that effect, but simply to learn 
whether his teeth were natural.  The tongue was "chawed off," as the 
coroner put it.  The body was interred on Wednesday morning at 10 
o'clock.

Morning Tribune, Altoona, Pa., Saturday, July 10, 1880